


Echoes of the Past

by Arivania Moons (DeadricDaughter19)



Category: Dragon Quest IX, Dragon Quest Series
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Background Relationships, Background Romance, Canon Temporary Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Family, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Multi, Mystery, Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Relationship(s), Romance, Tags May Change, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team Fluff, Team as Family, Temporary Amnesia, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-30 03:23:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19033759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadricDaughter19/pseuds/Arivania%20Moons
Summary: It all started with an earthquake, one that landed Nira in Angel Falls where she met Ivor, that brought the Wight Knight to Stornway and introduced them to Princess Simona, and that brought Batzorig to Stornway. All four have their own goals and paths to pursue that brought them together, needing help to achieve them. They didn't expect to be dragged into saving the world, but no one else seemed interested in stepping up. Hopefully, they'll come out the other side alive.





	Echoes of the Past

**Author's Note:**

> Here I am with my first ever Dragon Quest IX fanfiction! I'm really excited for this, since I want to pump a little life into this fandom. Cause it may be small, but it still exists! I'm hoping you all enjoy the adventure of Nira!

_The most frustrating thing about amnesia was déjà vu, which seemed to be a constant that never stopped. Everything from the perfectly carved, pristine white marble steps to the tree she could see at the summit was familiar, yet she didn’t know where she was. In her peripheral vision, she could glimpse more trees that were clearly tended to and kept perfect. There were a few perfectly crafted pots and vases with more flora around, clearly to make the area seem less…plain, less empty. There was a silence that allowed her to hear her own heart beating quite easily. Since it was night, she would have assumed the occupants of the place (she wasn’t sure how she knew, but she knew it was a building she was standing on) were all sleeping if not for the fact that she knew they were all around her. She didn’t know why she couldn’t see them, but she could feel their eyes on her, making her feel self-conscious._

_High above her head, stars patterned the sky in beautiful arrays that made it hard for her to look away from once she had her eyes on them. They sky was cloudless, giving a clear and perfect view of not only the stars, but the moon as well. The moon was full and illuminated the world around her just enough. In the moonlight, the marble seemed to glow softly and the steps seemed to become a sacred path of some sort. She wasn’t sure why she got that impression, but she couldn’t shake it. Something beckoned her to climb the steps, but she was hesitant to do so. Despite the seeming serenity of the world around her, anticipation and anxiousness hung heavily in the air. Something important was about to happen, and she would be its catalyst._

_She wasn’t sure she wanted to be the catalyst._

_“Just ignore them.”_

_She jolted, head snapping to her left from where the voice came. A boy stood there, towering over her in height. She couldn’t make out much about him beyond his pale, pearl-pink under-toned skin and vibrant, aqua blue hair. His hair was kept in a high, side ponytail. She wondered when the boy had arrived at her side. Had he been there the whole time?_

_“I got permission - I could walk up with you. Would you mind it if I did?”_

_She shook her head, relaxing a bit. She would be glad to have someone walk up with her. He gently placed his hand on her back and pushed, urging her to start walking. Taking a deep breath, she slowly began to ascend the staircase of marble. The sound of her footsteps was drowned out by the boy’s own footsteps. His presence behind her, supporting her and keeping the invisible gazes at bay, brought her a sense of comfort she hadn’t expected. She counted the steps as they climbed, to keep her mind busy. She had counted a hundred when they reached the top, only for her to see that there were more stairs. The distance between her and the second set of stairs was about half the width of a river. She could see the tree from before quite clearly now, as well as the connected pillars that wrapped around it from behind in a semi-circle._

It’s kind of like a temple, _she couldn’t help but note to herself. As she observed it, the tree almost seemed to be bathed in a faint yellow-gold light. Her attention was taken away from the tree when the boy moved past her, bringing her attention to five others as he went to stand with them. The six stood together in a vaguely ‘V’-shaped formation, the boy completing the right side. The closest to her on the left, she noted as she moved towards them after a moment’s hesitation, was a woman who, once again, she could only make out the skin and hair of. Pristine, snow-white skin of a colorless undertone gave the illusion of the woman being made out of light, especially with how the moonlight illuminated her. In startling contrast, the woman had pitch black hair that shone like it was made with strands of silk and draped over her shoulders and down her back in gentle waves. The woman stood at least a head taller than the boy from before._

_On the right, the boy stood next to a shorter woman who still towered over her by at least a foot. She had a similar skin tone to the boy, but it was more of a creamy color with a peachy undertone. Her hair was mauve in color and pulled into twin braids. Opposite to her, back on the left, was a man who towered over all the rest. For a moment, she thought he was bald until she realized his hair was shaved extremely close to his head and was just barely darker than his coal black skin with warm, earthly brown undertones._

_Finally, her eyes settled on the two men who made up the ‘point’ of the ‘V’ and stood furthest from her, directly at the first step of the second staircase. They stood far enough apart from each other that she could comfortably stand between them without feeling like her space was being invaded. On the left was an Elder with a walking cane. His skin was tanned lightly with a cherry red undertone. He had a long, pure white beard and his white hair curled upwards like a bowl. Even hunched over, he stood at least a head above her._

_The man on the left surprised her, because she could actually_ see _him better than the others. He stood roughly the same height as the black-haired woman and had sand colored skin. He was bald and wore a color scheme of semi-dull red and blue with black under it. She could make out a blue sleeveless vest with red trim overtop a black tank top and could make out black pants. Any leftover trepidation she may have felt vanished when she laid eyes on him. She didn’t recognize him, or the others for that matter, but she knew him, knew them, she was absolutely certain._

_Standing about a yard away from them when she stopped moving, she couldn't help but feel incredibly intimidated by their heights. She wondered why they were so much taller than her, but that was soon pushed to the back of her mind when a suddenly feeling of excitement bubbled up in her chest. The feeling was so intense that she felt overwhelmed for a moment, until the emotion suddenly receded and a more muted sense of sheepishness gently washed over her. She resisted the urge to focus on the bald man again, unsure how she knew that the emotions were coming from him. Instead, she pushed feelings of amusement and reassuring acceptance towards him, letting him know that it was alright. The sheepishness left and the excitement returned, although not as strongly as before. It brought a smile to her face that she couldn't get rid of, but she didn't particularly want to get rid of it._

_She jumped a bit, startled when a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder. She looked up, blinking at the dark-skinned man who was grinning at her. He said something that she didn't catch, before the white-skinned woman walked forward as he moved away. The woman took her hands in her own, gently squeezing and saying something that she was sure was supposed to be comforting. The woman backed off and then she was suddenly turned around, the purple-haired woman having grabbed her by both shoulders. She was briefly confused by this until the woman spoke, finally able to hear the words._

_"I am so very proud of you," the woman said. "You have flown above expectations time and time again, and now the Almighty brings honor on you."_

_She didn't know why, but she felt a brief flash of bitter amusement at the mention of the Almighty that was quickly squashed before the bald man noticed it. Even so, she kept smiling and accepted the woman's words to her. She was surprised when the woman then outright hugged her, but found herself hugging back. When the woman pulled away, she was immediately swept up into a hug by the blue-haired boy. She couldn't help the surprised squeak that left her at this._

_"I am so happy for you, Nira!" he excitedly exclaimed. "You have earned this, as you have worked so hard despite the challenges you had been given."_

_Nira. He called her 'Nira'. Was...was that her name? Was it really? A warm feeling spread through her, one that was pleasant and she wasn't sure if it was just her or coming from the bald man. She hugged the boy back, a feeling of gratitude welling up in her chest. She felt a twinge of regret that she wasn't sure the cause of, but dismissed it and chose to revel in the warm feeling. Eventually, he let her go and stood back besides the woman with mauve hair. After that, she felt a hand on her back, directly between her shoulder blades. She turned and looked up at the bald man, who she knew wore a soft expression._

_"Come. It is time, _nira," he said, making her blink._

_What had he said in front of her name? She didn't get a chance to dwell on it much as he gently pushed her towards the second set of stairs. She glanced at the older man, who merely nodded at her. She looked up towards the top, where she saw the giant tree. As she got closer once she started to climb the steps, she almost stumbled when she realized just how_ huge _the tree was. It's trunk was thick and it's roots were enormous, bursting from the ground and easily growing through what stone there was at the top. Stopping on the top step, she stared up at it in wonder, eyes wide. It was at least a hundred feet tall, if not more, and it's branches created a wide canopy that she was at the edge at even though she was several feet from the trunk. She could barely comprehend the tree, which she could tell was more than just a few hundred millennia old. It had to at least be a few hundred_ thousand _millennia to be so grand. The leaves were a beautiful, vibrant green and the trunk was a rich, light brown coloring. There were no marks or scars upon the wood, showing her that the tree was either well tended to or was somehow protected from the elements and weather. She could easily tell that there had been no animals anywhere near the tree ever._

_As she gazed upon the tree, her eyes spotted a few blossoms well-hidden among the branches. Had she not been so captivated by the tree to the point of trying to ingrain it in her memory, she wouldn't have noticed the pure gold blossoms. Their sight made her heart skip a beat, a knot of anxiety forming in her stomach. She didn't know why that was, but the knot loosened when she felt his presence behind her, reassurance washing over her. His hand was on her back once again, again directly between her shoulder blades. She looked up at him and knew that he was wearing a soft expression, one only she was allowed to see from him. She wasn't sure how she knew this, but it made her feel better._

_"I promised you," he said softly, gently. "I will never go back on it. Remember that."_

_She didn't know what that promise was, but it placed a feeling of confidence in her that made her looked forward and straighten out her posture. She_ could _do this, and she_ would _do it. For him. By now, the old man had joined the two of them at the top. She knew the two of them were speaking again, as the bald man stepped away from her. She didn't know what they were saying, couldn't hear their words, but she knew that it didn't matter. She began walking towards the trunk of the tree, a new conviction in her steps. Her shoulders were squared and she didn't let herself feel fear or anxious any longer. She could not afford it. Once at the roots, she knelt down and crossed her arms across her chest - left hand to right shoulder and right hand to left shoulder - before slowly bringing them away from her, uncrossing them in the process. A gentle tugging sensation sent a shiver through her body, a bright but gentle blue light forming as she pulled her hands away. Soon, her hands were completely uncrossed, palms facing the tree's canopy, and the blue light gently floating between them. She bowed her head and lifted up her arms, eyes closed and waiting until she could no longer feel the gentle light._

_Opening her eyes and looking up, she witnessed the blue light splitting into three and then vanishing into the tree's branches. Within seconds, a golden light like she had never before seen lit the tree up. She slowly stood and backed away from the tree, unable to prevent the awe that was spreading through her. She knew it was not just her own, but the man's as well. She could not tear her eyes from the tree, even as the light began to fade. She could just barely make out seven locations where the light remained and even brightened, forming seven golden spheres of light. She recognized two as where the golden blossoms from before had been located. Something was contained in those lights, she knew, something very important. However, she was distracted by a strange sound that suddenly sounded through the air. It was a...whistle? She couldn't quite pin down the sound beyond a whistle and didn't know what else to go with._

_Her attention turned to where what looked like a shooting star suddenly shot towards them. As it got closer, the golden star slowly formed into something else - what looked like a solid gold wagon of some sort. At least, that's what it seemed to be to her, for she could not otherwise place what the strange thing could possibly be. It was beautiful, though. It nearly rivaled the tree in majesty, which she was surprised was possible. Uncertainty rolled over her, finally allowing for her to turn back to where the man was. Why was he uncertain? She turned back to the tree, which was settling atop the connected pillars to their right. A sudden feeling of dread welled up in her stomach, some instinct pushing her to drop to the ground. Seconds after she had done so, she watched in horror as a blinding flash of pure purple lightning struck from below and knocked the strange wagon from the pillars, sending it plummeting down below the place they were on. The sky was suddenly dark with clouds and the ground shook, knocking her around a bit. When she finally managed to look up again, the two men were slightly in front of her, both clinging to a root of the tree as a fierce wind threatened to throw them after the golden wagon._

_Lightning strike after lightning strike struck into the sky around them, some beams hitting their home itself. She tried to cling to a root, but couldn't quite get a good grasp. Suddenly, a strike of lightning, stronger and thicker than any of the others, shot into the sky besides them, stirring up a wind fiercer than any other. She shrieked as the wind ripped her away from the ground, her sight catching a glimpse of the bald man. Horror rolled through her, both his and her own as his hand shot out, but he was too far to catch her. Fear flashed through her as the wind threw her over the edge of the place that she knew with all her heart was her home. The wind whipped around her as her home - a citadel - grew smaller and smaller. Pain suddenly tore through her as did a suddenly roaring feeling of triumph that morphed into horror and panic that mingled with her own and that of the bald man. A scream tore from her throat as the pain grew and grew until-_

She shot up in bed, a mangled and gasped cry of fear and pain leaving her. Her back flared with agony, causing her to curl forwards. The action only inflamed her pain, making her whimper. She tried to relax, knowing that remaining tense wouldn't help, but it was hard to fight against the pain that she felt. She remained as still as possible, doing her best to just breathe. She couldn't help but force herself to look up when the door to the room was suddenly flung open, a worried woman standing in the doorway. The woman had short, violet colored hair and blue eyes and skin that was pale and yet several shades darker than her own. She wore a very simple pale blue night dress.

"Did I wake you, Miss Erinn?" she asked, guilt knotting in her stomach. "I did not mean to do so."

"You didn't wake me at all," Erinn said, worry in her tone and eyes. "Was it another nightmare? Oh! You've probably strained your back again haven't you? Just a moment!"

She wanted to protest, but there was little she could do as Erinn went over to the desk in the room. Fresh bandages and a jar of Angel Medicine lay on top of it, the jar half empty. Grabbing both, Erinn came over to her and set the stuff on the bedside table, then began the process of removing the old bandages.

"It's a good thing that I suggested we wait a little longer before you started to wear more than night pants to bed," Erinn said, brushing her hair out of the way so that it didn't agitate the wounds on her back. "Honestly, I'm starting to worry about you. I don't get why your back is taking so long to heal. At least the bleeding's stopped..."

She let Erinn prattle on and on while the woman tended to her wounds. It was frustrating, truthfully, to need someone else to take care of her like this. She should have been able to take care of her own wounds, yet she was practically helpless. She didn't like feeling helpless.

"What was the dream about this time? Same thing?" Erinn suddenly asked as she applied the paste that was Angel Medicine to her back.

Angel Medicine was unique to Angel Falls and was made using Medicinal Herbs, Antidotal Herbs, and the unique and fresh Angel's Tears water of Angel Falls. The paste's properties varied depending on the quality of the antidotes and medicines used to make it. Erinn had been using the highest quality she could make, but it didn't seem to help much with the wounds. The wounds were horrendous and directly over her shoulder blades. According to Erinn, the wounds look vaguely like a star or where a tree had been uprooted from the ground, as if something had been torn from her back. The wounds had been deep, going all the way down to the bone practically, but Erinn had said she could no longer see the bone anymore. Which  _was_ progress, even if it wasn't much progress.

"Essentially," she agreed with the older woman. "However... I was able to make out what they were saying this time. Or, what some of what some of them were saying, that is. They... they called me something. Two of them did, that is."

"Really?" Erinn sounded interested as she continued to apply the paste. The wounds needed a good amount of it, meaning Erinn would need to get another jar by the day after the next day. "What did they call you? Do you think it's your name?"

"It is at least  _part_ of my name, I am confident," she replied. "They called me 'Nira', both of them did. Though, the bald one... he attempted to call me something else. It had 'Nira' as part of it, but there was something else that I could not catch at the front of it."

"Nira. That's... That's quite strange, actually. It sounds like the last part of the name of the Guardian Angel of Angel Falls -  _Nahanira_ is her name."

"The Guardian Angel?" Emotions she couldn't quite place flashed through her at the term.

"Ah! I see your amnesia even effects that. You saw the statue, up by the waterfall? Back up the path behind the house?"

"Yes," she shifted slightly as the pain finished disappearing, as numbing was one of the properties of Angel Medicine. "What of it?"

"That's the statue of the Guardian of Angel Falls. It looks like all the other Guardian Statues, simply because we've never seen our Guardian before. No one ever does, but we know they're there. Have you not gone up to it?"

"I never saw any point." She was puzzled. If no one ever saw this 'Guardian Angel', how did they know they even existed at all? "Perhaps I have heard the name before, and it simply translated over into my dream."

"I won't deny the possibility," Erinn had finished with the Angel Medicine and was now dressing her in the fresh bandages, "but I think I'll call you Nira anyways. It's got a nice ring to it. I think it suits you anyhow."

'Nira' turned to look back at Erinn, surprised and yet grateful. She had been going without a name for three months and had been referred to as 'Minstrel' for the past month. She had apparently fallen from the top of Angel's Fall, the waterfall for which Angel Falls was named, three months ago and Erinn took her in when they found her. The cause of her fall had, apparently, been an earthquake. She was unconscious for a month and bedridden in agony for another month once she awoke. The Angel Medicine's numbing effect had miraculously started to work on her nearly a month ago and she had started to be walking up and about since. She had only been allowed to wander the village for the past two and Erinn refused to let her do anything to help out, to earn her keep for all the kindness Erinn had given her. She felt quite guilty at that, but also extremely grateful.

"I'm going to go get changed," Erinn said, smiling at Nira. "You'd best get ready for the day as well, as I know you'll want to go for another walk again today. Perhaps you can visit Guardian Nahanira's statue today? Breakfast should be at least cooking once you come down."

With that, the woman got up and left the room, leaving Nira along to prepare for the day. The girl sighed and slowly got out of bed, looking around the room. It was a very simple room, with a bedside table, a desk, and a wardrobe. Lightly touching the bandages, Nira sighed softly and wished that she wasn't handicapped by her back wounds. There was little she could do about it, however, but keep striving to get full function of her body back. She had been doing some light exercises while out on her 'walk' to get back full range of her arms. It was painful when the numbing wore off, but she was usually back at the house and ready for Erinn to reapply it by then.

Walking over to the wardrobe, Nira opened it and looked at what was inside. She frowned a bit when she saw it was all the same thing, just in different colors.  _Miss Erinn should not be sewing me new versions of this. I was fine when I was borrowing some of the typical clothes from this village,_ she thought as she pulled out the top of the outfit. The one she had chosen was light blue, similar in shade to Erinn's own dress usually was. It was slightly darker, but not by much. Nira couldn't even begin to guess at how much it had cost to buy the dye for it. On the same hanger as the long-sleeve blue shirt was the one of the only parts of her original outfit that had survived. It was a pauldron, she was sure. A type of armor piece that draped across the shoulders. It had enough width that it protected the top of her chest, while leather strips that hung down from there all around it and made it fairly easy for her arms to move in it. The strips ended in points. The base coloring of it was a beautiful purple coloring of a shade she couldn't quite place and was outlined in gold. It had silver buttons in the front that made it easy to clip on. The shirt was made of cotton and the pauldron of leather, though it didn't  _feel_ like leather. It felt more like silk, but she just  _knew_ it was leather.

Once she had the top part of the outfit on, she got out from one of the drawers the rest of her outfit. She chose leggings that were the same blue as her shirt before pulling on the skirt. The skirt was made of the same leather-like material of the pauldron that didn't feel like leather. It clipped at the sides with silver buttons and had a similar design as the pauldron. Her waist was covered by a wide base from which several strips that ended in points went down from. It made movement in it easy while providing fairly good protection at the same time. Like the pauldron, it had a purple base and gold outlines. Once she had those on, she pulled on the simple brown boots that she had been provided. The boots weren't made out of leather, but it wasn't cotton or wool either. She hadn't bothered to ask Erinn about the material. She knew that it was probably expensive and she would only feel more guilty if she asked. The skirt was the other surviving piece of her original outfit, apparently.

Despite the fact she had only fallen from the top of the waterfall down into the river it poured into, her clothes had been burned away. She was amazed that the only real wounds she had were the two on her shoulder blades that refused to heal. Now fully dressed, Nira decided to look at herself in the mirror that sat on the desk. She wasn't sure why she wanted to do so, but did anyways. Her hair curled naturally, but not outrageously. Erinn had called it 'waterfall curls' and noted that it wasn't a natural hair style to Angel Valley or, to Erinn's knowledge, the kingdom of Stornway in general. Nira had been pegged as a foreigner to the kingdom of Stornway pretty easily by the Angel Fallsians. Nira was much paler, practically a snow white pale, than them and her hair was a rich chocolate color - much darker than any hair color natural to the kingdom. Erinn had noted her eyes above all else, however. Apparently, purple eyes were not very common, or even natural without the intervention of magic.

Looking at herself, though, Nira didn't see how she looked unnatural or foreign. Sure, she was oddly tall for a girl that couldn't be much older than fifteen, but to so easily be pegged as someone not from the kingdom she was apparently in?  _Where could I have come from?_ she wondered, frowning a bit. Shaking her head, she turned around and found her eyes landing on two objects that gave her a headache to look at. A sword and a satchel, both of which were hers. It was annoying, the headache she got from looking at them. They gave her the strongest sense of déjà vu out of everything in the waking world, the déjà vu being another reason she couldn't understand how she wasn't from around the area. She supposed she could have been from somewhere similar, but shrugged it off for the moment. The headache increased the more she looked at the two objects, so she shook her head.

Breakfast first,  _then_ she would finally study the two items properly. Mabey get a clue as to who she was and where she came from. Nodding to herself, she turned and left the room. She could already smell Erinn's cooking and knew it wouldn't be long before Erinn was calling for her to have breakfast anyways. The two objects could wait for until she had eaten something.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter took way too long to write, but it's finally finished and I'm very happy with it! I hope you all enjoy it too!


End file.
